


The Weeping Willow

by HelloTragic



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 13:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14620017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloTragic/pseuds/HelloTragic
Summary: Random feels based off of a post about weeping willows...





	The Weeping Willow

When Emma is 6, she’s cursed by the Evil Queen and turned into a weeping Willow. Killian is 7 when he finds the new addition outside his house one morning. He grows up with the tree, climbing up it’s branches. 

 

At first Emma is annoyed, because boys are gross. But the years move on, and as Killian grows, so does Emma. She watches him, unable to do anything more than shield him from the sun and the rain. She watches him cry beneath her canopy after his mother dies. She watches him take his first drink at 16 when his father leaves in the middle of the night.

 

Even after Killian joins the Navy with his brother, she watches him return once a year on the anniversary of his mother’s death. He lays flowers at her grave, just beyond the yard from the willow. She weeps for him when he’s gone, cherishing the few hours she has with him each year.

 

She weeps with him again when he comes home to tell his mother that Liam is gone. He’s dressed differently this time. Gone are his perfect naval linens, replaced with dark leather. He smells of the sea and rum as he stumbles over one of her roots. In a fit of rage he kicks the stump.

 

After that, he only comes home once more, to tell his mother about the woman he’s met, and how he’s ready to move on, to stop looking back. Emma listens as he tells his mother goodbye one last time, and she weeps once more, for she loves him. She’s loved him for years, and still, she can do nothing but watch as he leaves to start a life with this new woman. 

 

Emma holds out all year, hoping against all odds that the man she loves will return anyway, but he doesn’t, and her heart breaks. The winter comes and it’s harsh. When the spring breaks, her leaves are a little less vibrant, a little less full. He doesn’t return still, and slowly Emma allows herself to give in to the seasons. 

 

Three more years pass since the man had last returned, and Emma has given up all hope. She hears a young couple passing by talk about the new prince, and she realizes that she’s been forgotten and replaced by everyone. That winter, she gives up the fight, and becomes weathered. She does not bloom again.

 

* * *

 

 

She’s gone when the young man finally returns, defeated after having lost his love. He returns to his home, for a reason he can’t quite place. There’s a draw he’s always felt. Not to the house, but the the tree that gave him so much comfort over the years. The tree that shielded him from the world when it was falling apart around him.

 

It’s gone though, nothing left but a stump. there are marks in the wood left from an axe. He’d been strong for Liam and Milah, but losing the tree is the last straw. Somehow losing the tree means he’s lost everything…..

 

He should have come back sooner, but he had his pride. He was a fearsome pirate now. How was he to explain to his crew that once a year he likes to come home to sit under his childhood tree? How was he supposed to explain that it was the only time he felt like he was truly home?

 

That night he goes to the local pub, the same one his father liked to frequent after his mother’s death. He gets completely smashed and stumbles home. But he doesn’t live in that little cottage anymore. He has no claim to stay there, so he crumples to the ground, leaning against what little remained of his tree.

 

He cries for the first time since he was a boy. He weeps for it, and finally he falls off in a drunken stupor. When he wakes, he’s certain that he’s still drunk, or that he’s dreaming.

 

The tree, just a meager stump before, has returned to it’s former glory. Leaves sway in the wind, and he swears that he hears humming. A soft lullaby from his childhood. He lets the song lull him back to sleep, where he can dream of a different time, before everything went wrong.

 

When he wakes again, it’s to a white canopy above him. It’s different than before, and he’s taken off guard, not quite knowing where he is. He’s never woken beneath this tree before, yet it’s somehow familiar. He spends the morning beneath it, taking in the newness. He can see the familiar lines of axe markings at the base, and he’s certain that it’s somehow his tree, but different. Stronger.

 

He only leaves when his stomach begins to grumble. There’s an inn not far away, and he orders some food to go. The inn keeper remembers him, and kindly packs his food in paper, making it easier to carry back, noticing that the man now only has one hand.

 

He isn’t gone long, but when he returns, it’s to find a man sheathing his axe into the base of the tree. He fights with the man, who claims the land is now his, and that he has every right to claim the lumber. That he’ll make a tidy profit off of it in fact.

 

Killian won’t have it though, and after threatening the man, he watches him retreat. He stays with the tree for the rest of the day, even as the light fades away and is replaced by darkness. He knows he can’t stay there forever. He knows that he can’t protect the tree either. The man will be back eventually and he’ll claim his prize.

 

The thought of it twists his heart, but there’s nothing he can do and he knows it. So instead, he does something he’s never done before. He looks to the brightest star in the sky and makes a wish. He wishes for it’s happiness, for it to feel no more pain. He wishes he could be with the tree forever.

 

It’s then that something happens. The tree begins the glow. He’s startled, stepping back from it, unsure of what’s going on. As he waits, the glow only becomes brighter, and finally he’s forced to look away, to shield his eyes from the light.

 

And as quickly as it started, it’s over. But when he turns back, he finds the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, laying unconscious on the ground. Her blonde hair is fanned out around her, wrapped in a crown of white tree blossoms. She stirs under his gaze, and he finds himself bending down, drawn to this stranger.

 

When her eyes open, it’s with the most brilliant shade of green looking upon him, and there’s a shy smile. He can’t place it, but he knows her somehow. And when she whispers his name, he feels home.

 

And that’s when it comes to him. The warmth he feels radiating from her, it’s the same warmth he’s felt since he was 7.

 

“It was always you?” he asks. She only nods in return.

 

Neither of them find it odd when he embraces her, feeling the tinge of magic still under her skin. She holds him back just as tightly. They may be strangers, but they’ve known each other for years.

 

He asks for her name. It’s Emma. It’s all she gives him before leaning up, pressing her lips gently to his.

 

He has questions. There’s so much to figure out, but in that moment, he only knows that he wants to spend the rest of his life protecting her the way she’s protected him for all of those years.


End file.
